


All That We've Amassed

by iaminarage



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Teen Wolf: Riddled, Teen wolf 3x18, reaction fic, riddled
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-12
Updated: 2014-02-12
Packaged: 2018-01-12 04:04:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1181652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iaminarage/pseuds/iaminarage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek is more upset that Isaac had expected about Stiles’s current predicament. (A 3x18 reaction fic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	All That We've Amassed

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this started as crack fic and it turned into, well, something more serious. The idea sort of came while looking at [this photo set](http://hotdamnloki.tumblr.com/post/76352269530/3-18-what-they-were-really-saying), although it isn’t really based on it. This fic assumes that Isaac knows about Kate. The title comes from Bastille’s “Things We Lost in the Fire” (I know).

Somehow their current plan was just “find Stiles.” Isaac wasn’t sure exactly why they were always coming up with plans that ended with “and then we’ll figure it out,” but here they were again. Find Stiles, but no one had any clue what to do with him if they did.

It was freaking Isaac out completely. He and Stiles still hadn’t really bonded, but you’d have to be blind not to know what Stiles meant to Scott. And everything that was important to Scott was important to Isaac.

Derek didn’t look any better than Isaac felt. Isaac could smell fear radiating off of him in waves with something that Isaac wasn’t sure of mixed in. Actually, now that Isaac was paying attention to him, he was kind of afraid that Derek shouldn’t be driving at all. He looked horrible. The two of them had been paired together and sent driving around town in search of Stiles, but apparently no one had evaluated whether Derek was fit to operate heavy machinery.

“Dude, are you okay? Do you want me to drive?” Isaac asked.

Derek responded with his usual glare, which Isaac had expected. “Look, I’m just saying. I don’t want to die in a fiery crash.”

Derek growled but then jerked the car over to the side of the road and threw it into park. Isaac was just glad that it was late at night on a very empty street, or his predictions of a horrible crash might have been realized.

Once the car was safely in park, Derek sighed and rested his head on the steering wheel. Isaac didn’t know what to say, so he did the only thing he could think of: he gingerly reached out and rested a hand on Derek’s shoulder. When Derek visibly relaxed at his touch, Isaac knew he’d done the right thing. As difficult as Derek was, the two of them had shared a pack once. Maybe they still did.

For a minute or two, Derek just breathed. Finally, he turned slightly to look at Isaac and said, “I can’t fucking believe it’s Stiles.”

Isaac was confused. He’d expected Derek’s reaction to be about more than just Stiles. “I know,” Isaac said, trying to sound sympathetic. “He’s always been so completely _human_.”

Derek shook his head, and Isaac had the feeling that he still wasn’t getting it. “I should have known,” Derek said quietly, and then he sat up like a shot and banged his hand on the steering wheel. “How do I _never_ know?”

Isaac jumped a bit in surprise. “We’ve all been around Stiles a lot more than you have. If anything, we should have known,” he said. “Have you even seen him since you got back?”

It seemed like a reasonable enough question to Isaac, but it made Derek flinch. “Stiles and I …” he started. “Stiles and I … fuck.” Derek closed his eyes and let his head drop back against the window.

Isaac just waited. There were a lot of things he didn’t know about Derek, but, after having been both his beta and his roommate, he did know that it was best not to interrupt Derek when he was trying to get something out.

After a moment, Derek spoke again. “Stiles and I slept together. Before I left.”

Isaac’s eyes widened in shock. Luckily Derek had his eyes closed, although he could probably hear it in Isaac’s heartbeat. “And a couple of times since I got back.”

Then Isaac understood. Kate, Jennifer, and now _Stiles_. He still felt completely confused about how Stiles and Derek together fit into the world as he knew it—How would it have happened? When? Why?—but he did know how it would fit into Derek’s world, especially now. “Derek—Stiles isn’t like them, you know that, right? Stiles isn’t _evil_.”

Derek just rolled his eyes at Isaac, clearly not convinced there was any difference. “This isn’t something that he’s doing, Derek. It’s something that’s being done to him, and he’s fighting it.”

“It doesn’t matter. I still should have been paying enough attention to know.”

Isaac would have guessed that the problem wasn’t Derek’s lack of attention, but he had no idea why Derek wouldn’t have realized. It didn’t matter why, though. Not now. “We’re going to get him back,” Isaac said, reaching back out to touch Derek’s arm again. “I don’t know how, but we’ll find a way. We can still save him from this.”

Derek gave Isaac a disdainful look, and Isaac knew Derek didn’t buy it. Isaac didn’t buy it either. None of the information on the Nogitsune even hinted that there might be a chance of destroying it without killing the host, but Isaac knew they’d have to find a way. He didn’t know what would be left of their small pack if they didn’t, because he’d recognized the emotion he’d been unable to pick out of Derek’s scent earlier. It was something like heartbreak.


End file.
